Mobile phone use throughout the world has become widespread and is expected to grow as the costs of the devices and cellular network access decreases. With the advent of newer and more compact components, mobile phones have evolved from heavy, brick-like devices that can only send or receive a call, to compact and lightweight devices that typically include, in addition to the phone hardware itself, a video screen, camera, substantial memory, powerful computer processors, high-volume speakers, and data ports. These devices have become more than just phones, and can be used to take still pictures or video, send or receive email, Short Message Service (SMS) and Instant Message (IM) communications, store and play music, watch video, and browse the Internet.
As mobile phones have incorporated these capabilities, the ability for a user to manage and access them has become more complex, typically involving multiple buttons, wheel or trackwheels, menus, submenus, and hotkeys. For example, instead of a simple numeric keypad, many mobile phones now incorporate full keyboards to type out email and SMS messages. Increasing the number of buttons on a phone, however, dictates that the size of the mobile phone not go beyond a certain limit, as the buttons would become too small for effective use. In an effort to overcome this inherent limitation, mobile phones have been developed to fold out or slide out to temporarily increase its size for full keyboard use. Other mobile phones incorporate software that allows a single button to potentially input different letters, thereby decreasing the number of buttons required for typing out email or SMS messages.
Though most efforts are being made to add functionality to mobile phones, (inherently making them more complex) some have attempted to simplify their input systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,217 describes a mobile phone with a single button. The button can be used to pick up an incoming call, hang up, or turn the device on or off. When the user desires to place a call, they depress the button, which automatically calls a predetermined phone number to connect the user to a service provider that connects the user to the desired phone number. U.S. Pat. No. 6,917,802 describes a mobile phone without any buttons besides an on/off switch. In place of buttons, voice commands are used to initiate, pick up, or hang up a call. When the command is made to initiate a call, the mobile phone calls a predetermined phone number to connect to a voice dialing server. The user then recites a keyword or a phone number to be dialed, which the voice server automatically dials and conferences in the user's mobile phone.
Simplified mobile phones as previously described offer several advantages over the hardware-heavy mobile phones typically in use today. Simplified mobile phones can be engineered to be much more compact than a mobile phone, and their simplicity in function better allows for the design of extensive battery life for the device. Simplified mobile phones also make more likely to possibility of designing a device with a low manufacturing cost, maybe even to the extent that it would be economically feasible to provide a mobile phone service whereby mobile phones can be recycled or discarded.
Nevertheless, the simplified phones described are not without their problems. A phone that has even a single button to initiate or pick up calls can require that the mobile phone user find the button to depress it, which could be problematic during certain situations, such as if the user is driving an automobile. Likewise, the use of voice dialing servers are inherently prone to error in recognizing voice commands. Background noise, language accents, and noisy mobile phone signals can thwart the server's ability to recognize what number the user desires to dial. The specific software hierarchy of the server also makes it inherently inflexible and thereby a potential source of frustration to a mobile phone user. Most notably, a voice dialing server can only serve a single purpose—to dial phone numbers on command. A voice dialing server cannot be effectively used to send or receive the text messages that are commonly exchanged between mobile phone users (e.g., email, SMS, IM).
It is therefore preferred to provide a simplified, buttonless mobile phone system that does not rely on voice dialing servers and that allows the transmission and receipt of text communications.
As a further point, many of today's mobile phones operate on the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) network. Mobile phones that operate on this network require a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM card), which is a portable memory chip that includes, among other things, the registration information used to connect a mobile phone to a specific mobile phone service provider. Mobile phone service providers, however, typically provide local call service within a specific geographic area. If a mobile phone user goes beyond this area, they incur “roaming charges” when making or receiving a call. These roaming charges are generally much more expensive than local mobile phone service charges.
To overcome this problem, individual SIM cards for a specific region have been made available for purchase by mobile phone users. Upon entering an area where the mobile phone user could incur roaming charges, the mobile phone user can open their phone and replace the SIM card with one that is local to the service area they have entered. In this way, the mobile phone user can avoid roaming charges. This method, however, is problematic in that it requires the mobile phone user to have a certain degree of sophistication in being able to replace a SIM card. It also requires that the mobile phone user identify and buy a SIM card that is compatible with their specific phone.
It is therefore preferred to provide a simplified, buttonless mobile phone system that more easily switches out SIM cards so that a mobile phone user can use a mobile phone service without incurring roaming charges.